Screening potential tenants isn’t simply a matter of checking credit, background, and paystubs to see if they can afford the rent. Don’t assume that the information you are given is legitimate. Identifying any red flags and digging deeper is key to saving you the pain of placing a bad tenant in a property.
Financial risks of not screening tenants properly
If a tenant is not properly screened, there are financial risks such as non-payment of rent, property damage, and eviction proceeding expenses. Experienced screeners know what red flags to look for when approving an application.
Some red flags to look out for on a rental application
- Lying about employment
- Inflated earnings
- Altered documentation
- Lying about their credit score
- Fake references or past addresses
At Home Property Management, we have one person whose job is dedicated to verifying information and documents supplied during the application process. If there are lies in the documentation, our experienced screener will find them. Our thorough screening processes help us avoid the headaches and problems that come with mistakenly placing a tenant that lied on an application.
Our experience with fabricated paystubs
There are people fabricating documentation to get into a rental property, and we recently experienced it firsthand with someone that applied for one of the properties we manage. While going through the provided documents, our screener noticed that the font under the year-to-date number on their Earnings Statement didn’t match the rest of the page.
This red flag caused us to dig a little deeper and find that the Earnings Statement didn’t match the salary they claimed on the application. After doing the employment verification, we discovered that not only had the applicant fabricated the paystub but they no longer worked for that company.
Hire a property management company
An experienced property management company will do more than just properly screen tenants. Learn more about all the property management tasks we perform and how they will help you avoid legal and liability issues.
Learn more by contacting us today. We look forward to hearing from you.
